50. Bezokhri 'al mishkavi (Çakum Effendi)

A selihah by Rabbi Yehudah Ibn Bal’am (Al-Andalus, 11th century). Çakum Effendi sings the first three stanzas. The refrain, a line from Lamentations 3, 22 (חסדי ה' כי לא תמנו כי לא כלו רחמיו), is different from the traditional one printed in most Sephardic mahzorim taken from 2 Samuel 24, 10 (נפלה נא ביד ה' כי רבים רחמיו). The selihah was also recorded by Haim Effendi (2008, CD 1, no. 9). Çakum’s version is slightly longer and includes a fragment of the third stanza. The melody as well as the clarinet accompaniment are 113 identical to Haim Effendi’s setting. It is a slow, metered melody in makam Uşşak with an interesting rhythmic cycle of 15/4 (sometimes 16/4) per phrase. The musical structure of the opening stanza is aabA and of the second one aaabA whereas A is the refrain.